Fourth India-West Indies ODI moved from Wankhede to Brabourne

The fourth ODI of the series between India and West Indies has been moved from Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium down the road to the Cricket Club of India (CCI), the BCCI announced on Friday.

The match, scheduled for October 29, had initially been allocated to the Mumbai Cricket Association’s (MCA) Wankhede Stadium, but the Committee of Administrators that is overseeing the BCCI took the decision to move the game to the CCI’s Brabourne Stadium due to administrative issues at the MCA. Logistically, the move will not affect any plans, with the two stadiums barely 500 metres apart.

The MCA faced an administrative crisis with no signing authority to disburse payments. They approached the BCCI, but the Indian board was not willing to take on the responsibility of hosting the match itself, which led to the shift.

This is the second match in the series to be moved. Indore was to host the second ODI on October 24, but the Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association expressed its inability to do so, with the main point of contention being the number of complimentary tickets available for distribution. That match was moved to Visakhapatnam.

The venues for the five ODIs will now be Guwahati, Visakhapatnam, Pune, Mumbai (CCI) and Thiruvananthapuram.

The issue of complimentary tickets is one that several state associations have raised objections over. According to the BCCI’s new constitution, each venue must sell 90% of the tickets to the paying public, with 10% reserved for complimentary tickets. Of that 10%, the BCCI reportedly needed half to distribute to its stakeholders and sponsors, with the other half left for the host association. Sourav Ganguly, in his capacity as Cricket Association of Bengal chief, has said there will not be any compromise from his association on the distribution of complimentary tickets, while there have been reports that the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association, which is slated to host the third T20I on November 11, is also unhappy with the reduced number of complimentary tickets available for distribution.